In addition to the two new albums on last week's chart - 12 Step Program (also avail in LP) from longtime LA rap duo People Under the Stairs (PUTS) and fellow longtime indie hip-hop duo Atmosphere's Southsiders (also avail in LP) - new hip-hop albums this week include both Blu's Good To Be Home and this week's number one; The Roots...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. This new album, also available in LP format, is the eleventh studio album in 21 years from the Philly formed crew who in more recent years gained mainstream acceptance as Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show band. The on point Amoeba review of.... Shoot Your Cousin suggests that the new album, the first since 2011's Undun, comes at a much needed point in the Roots' highly public profile to "the band, once more often noted for their musicianship, emcee skills and social consciousness rather than for being Jimmy Fallon’s house band," to help them reestablish their street cred, and concluding that, "We’ll let The Roots keep their day job, as long as they come back every so often with an album as cool as this one." Clocking in a modest 33 minutes, the ten (technically eleven) track album opens with a song from the late great Nina Simone ("Theme From The Middle Of The Night") and includes such tracks as the lead single "When the People Cheer" (scroll down to see video below). The other chart entry this week is the recently reissued on vinyl from The Fugees Score.

Released earlier this month is the brand new album 12 Step Program (also avail in LP) from longtime LA rap duo People Under the Stairs (PUTS) that has shot straight to number one on the new hip-hop chart this week in their hometown Amoeba. It is the ninth album from the talented pair, comprised of Double K and Thes One, of whom Amoeba.com wrote in the new album review, "The PUTS are aging like the luxury items they are, becoming better and more valuable with age, forever giving the impression that their most fruitful period is always the current one." I concur and for further proof scroll down to see a video clip from the new 12 track 12 Step Program. Similarly the number two new chart entry is from another longtime indie hip-hop act duo Atmosphere. Of this new release from the emcee/production duo of Slug and Ant Amoeba.com accurately writes, "Slug brings that same honesty to his raps about getting older and wiser on Southsiders, a kind of refocusing for Atmosphere. Rather than try to recapture the fury of Atmosphere’s youthful early albums, Slug portrays a newfound ability to look outward and upward here." Agreed and the album, a 20 song set, deserves repeated listens to fully absorb all he has to say. Read the full review here.

The organizers of the 2012 Rock The Bells summer festival series have just announced some new additions to this year's stops on the traveling three city, 2-day hip-hop fest. These include DMX (left) and Eve who have now been added to the Bay Area stop, August 25 & 26 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, and Slaughterhouse, French Montana + Red Café, Chief Keef, and Tinie Tempah all been added to the sole East Coast date at Holmdel New Jersey on September 1st & 2nd. Meanwhile for the opening festival tour dates, August 18th and 19th, at the San BernardinoNOS Events Center, the star-studded line-up will now include KRS-One, Xzibit, Hieroglyphics, El-P, Killer Mike, Kid Ink, Machine Gun Kelly, Casey Veggies, I Self Devine, Chief Keef, and Slim da Mobster. The long list of artists for this tour, see flyer down below, also include such acts asNas,Rza,Slick Rick, Salt N Pepa, Atmosphere, Mix Master Mike, Wiz Khalifa, Kid Cudi, Asap Rocky and Action Bronson.

Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz top the charts this week with their deservedly popular collabo, which combines their abrasive Def Jux aesthetic with some fun party vibes.

Hail Mary Mallon represents some of Aesop Rock’s strongest material in a minute, and really showcases his talents as a producer through some neck-snapping beats. Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic have got great vocal chemistry, and are local SF-dwellers these days as well. Worth peeping!

The Beastie Boys continue to prove that they’re one of the most universally popular groups in hip hop by coming in second this week after a long run of topping the charts.

Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is a return to form from To the 5 Burroughs that proves that you can still record a grimy sounding album on a million dollar budget. The sort of raw, playful rap music you’ve come to expect from these guys.

There's a reason why so many viral videos feature cats and dogs. People love their pets and can relate to videos featuring animals that remind them of their feline or canine buddies. And this is the reason, I believe, that's fueled the phenomenal popularity of the Swedish House Mafia's latest music video for their pop-dance track "Save The World" which, since it was uploaded just twelve days ago (May 19th), has racked up an astonishing nine plus million YouTube views. The engaging video for the average song stars a cast of hero dogs of varying breeds who race to defend the attacked humans (save the world) as seen in the clip above.

After watching this video I started thinking of all the other cool music videos starring dogs and have compiled a selection of them here including Atmosphere's "Just For Show" from the Rhymesayers act;s recently released album The Family Sign and OK Go's ever popular "White Knuckles" video which has tallied over 10 million views since it was uploaded on YouTube last September. Also,below are such dog themed classics as Snoop Doggy Dogg's Dr Dre produced "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" in which the Dogg famously morphs into a dog (impressive in 1993), Baha Men's one hit wonder from eleven years ago "Who Let The Dogs Out," and Sublime's "What I Got."